Canadians teens send an average of more than 3,500 texts per month, many of those while they are in class, suggests research from the University of Montreal. Cellphones are banned in many schools but students have become adept at hiding and using them anyway, says Prof.Thierry Karsenti, Canada Research Chair in Technology and Education at the university.
He interviewed 17 groups of students away from the teachers and was able to get some honest answers about how they used their mobile phones. Many hid them behind books while texting in class. Others carried around dummy phones they could hand in if they were caught and the phones confiscated. Some teachers showed Karsenti boxes full of unclaimed cellphones.
Some teachers make texting difficult
Students reported that some teachers move around the classroom, question them and make them actively participate in discussions, making it difficult for them to text. But other teachers do not. “The students told us that in many classes they have a lot of time to text,” said Karsenti. “That’s what some of them do during class time. So they’re not listening, they’re obviously not learning and they’re texting instead of listening to their teachers.”
13 and 14-year old students told Karsenti they had to answer very important texts while in class. When he asked exactly what, they answered that friends wanted to know what they were doing. He concludes the teens feel it is very important to stay connected at all times. Some older students however indicated they left their cellphones at home during exam weeks.
Only small benefits to mobiles in class
Texting did not affect students’ writing as teachers suspected it would. Smartphones may help them do their homework by enabling research, for instance on vocabulary. Some students used their phones to take notes. But Karsenti does not think these are important assets. “These are tiny advantages compared to the waste of time when they are texting so much during class time. We had some girls, and even boys who were sending more than 15,000 messages per month. This is unbelievable.”
Students need to be educated on the positives and negative effects of cellphone use, he concludes, and teachers need to move around the classroom and involve students in discussion if they hope to limit the amount of texting during class time.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.